Rail-joint.



J. G. MOMIGHAEL.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.28, 1910.-

Patented Apr. 30, .1912.

2 SHEETSSHBET 1.

J. G. MGMIGHAEL.

RAIL JOINT. APPLICATION I'IILED FEB-2.8, 1910. V 1 ,024:,736. PatentedApr. 30, 1912.

v 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JAMES G. MCMICI-IAEL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

- RAIL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 30, 1912.

Application filed February 28, 1910. Serial No. 546,374.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES G. MOMIOHAEL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail Joints, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in rail joints, and moreparticularly to a method and means of repairing worn rail joints.

It is well known that in many joints, particularly in straight-awaytrack, the pounding of the car in passing from the leaving rail to thereceiving rail, concaves the head of the latter rail, and therebyseriously affects the track surface. Further, where the rails arejointed by bars, the pounding of the cars over the joint distorts ordepresses the contacting surface of the bars or angle plates below thehead of the concaved rail. For the repair of such worn joints, it hasheretofore been customary to raise the receiving rail so that the deeppart of its concave is in alinement with the normal track surface, tosecure the rail in such raised position either by welding the rail endstogether or supporting the rails in vertical non-alinement by adetachable basesupporting or special rail joint. In either case, theoriginal fish plate or angle plate employed in the joint is dispensedwith and the expense of the repair is considerable.

My present invention has for its object to provide for the repair ofsuch worn joints at low expense and with simple appliances. To this endI employ the method of repair which consists in raising the concavereceiving rail so that the low point of its concave is in alinement withthe track surface, supporting it in such raised position by fish platesor angle bars, which are slightly offset at the line of juncture of therails to maintain the newly efiected alinement, and employing a separateofi-set plate to afiord support to the rail base. In many instances Ifind that the off-set formed in the angle bars or fish plates originallyemployed to eifect the joint of the rail ends so closely approximatesthe desired elevation of thereceiving rail'to secure the requisltere-allnement, that the same plates or angle bars may be employed in therepair of the worn joint by simply reversing them, end for end and sidefor side, putting the left hand plate on the right hand side of thejoint, and vice versa, so that the end of the plate or angle bar whichhad been depressed by the wearmg action of the rail joint is connectedto the leaving rail while the unworn end of the plate, formerlyconnected to said leavlng rail, is connected to the receiving rail.Under such circumstances, the only new part required in effecting thecomplete repair is the base plate having a suitable off-set and arrangedto afford base support to the respective rail ends in their newalinement.

In the drawings, wherein I have illustrated an embodiment of myinvention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a repaired joint; Figs. 2 and3 are sections on lines 22 and 33 of Fig. 1 respectively; Fig. 4 is aperspective detail of a base plate; Fig. 5 is a modification of saidbase plate; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing anothermodifiedform of base plate; Figs. 7 and 8 are sections on lines 77 and8-8 of Fig. 6, respectively; and Fig. 9 is a perspective detail of thebase plate shown in Fig. 6.

In the drawings, 10 indicates a leaving rail, and 11 a receiving railend, concaved, as at 12, by wear.

13 and 13 indicate angle bars on opposite sides of the receiving railsextending from the head of the rail to the base thereof and outward overthe base. It will be understood, however, that ordinary fish platesmight be used in lieu of such angle bars.

14 indicates the shoulder of an angle bar, such as is made by wear, orthe angle bars or plates may be constructed with such shoulder for thepurpose. When the angle bars or plates are placed upon the rail withtheir elevated surfaces, 14 under the concaved receiving rail and theirdepressed surfaces, 14", under the leaving rail, the rails are broughtinto new alinement such that the bottom of the concave 12 substantiallyalines with the normal track surface defined by the leaving rail 10.Thus, it will be understood that where angle bars, originally employed,have their upper surface distorted, to afford the shoulder 14, and arereversed end for end upon the joint, they tend to bring aboutrealinement of the rails, as indicated in the drawings and in manyinstances I have found that such reversal of the plates brings aboutrealinement of the rails suitable for all practical purposes. Further tomaintain the rail in the desired position I provide for cooperation withthe plates or angle bars and the rails an off-set base plate, 16, theoff-set, shown at 17, being sufiicient for compensating the differencein elevation between the under base surfaces of the rails due to therealinement. Each base plate 16 is preferably constructed to extendlaterally beyond the rails, on both sides, and to provide spikeapertures, 18, in suitable location relative to the adjoining ends, andt0 the rail base, to enable the spikes, 19, to grip the base portions ofthe angle bars, 13. The off-set, 17, may extend clear across the base,or may be provided by the interposition of a shim, 17, between a. baseplate of uniform thickness and the receiving or raised rail, as shown inFig. As shown in Figs. 1 to 5, the base plate has a plain lower surfaceand may be made of rolled material, or as shown in Figs. 6 to 9, may beintegrally cast with reinforcing ribs, 20, of cross shape, strengtheningthe portion of the plate immediately below the adjoining ends of therails. The latter form of plate is, of course, especially adapted forsuspended joints, and the plate with the plain lower surface for asupported joint. hen the rails are realined as shown in Figs. 1 and 6,the extremity of the receiv ing rail, between the line of juncture ofthe rail ends and the deepest portion of the concave 12, may be dressedto the dotted line, 28, or the excess of metal at such point may beallowed to wear off by the passage of traiiic.

It will be observed that the joints which I have described are simple inconstruction, easily manufactured and applied, and of great economy ofcost.

\Vhile I have herein described in some de-' tail a particular embodimentof my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatnumerous changes might be made in the precise details without departurefrom the spirit of my invention.

hat I claim is:

1. The process of repairing worn railway joints to restore the concavedsurface of the worn rail to normal alinement, which consists in raisingand supporting the end of the worn rail of two substantially identicalsimilar rails, with the lowest concave surface of the worn rail in thesame horizontal plane as the upper surface of the adjoining rail, byreversing the worn fish plates or angle bars, side for side and end forend, and re taining said rails in said relative positions by means of abase plate having railreceiving surfaces of different altitudes corre'sponding to the relative heights of the bases of said rails.

2. In a rail joint, the combination, with the meeting ends of two rails,one whereof has its upper surface worn concave, said worn rail beingsuitably raised and supported by reversal, side for side and end forend, of the worn fish plates; of an offset base plate 16 to positivelymaintain said rails in said relative position.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES G. MoMIGHAEL.

In the presence of \V. LINN ALLEN, MARY F. ALLEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

